A young boy living in a cookie-cutter suburb gets hit on the head with a rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes to anyone who holds it in this family-oriented fantasy comedy from Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez. All the houses in Black Falls look exactly the same, and everyone who lives in this suburban Shangri-la works for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated. A highly profitable company thanks to their latest invention, Mr. Black's Black Box -- an all-in-one communication
device that's revolutionized the technological landscape -- Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated also employs the parents of 11-year-old Toe Thompson. But Toe isn't entirely sold on the concept of this corporate conglomerate; all he wants is to make some new friends, and that wish comes true after Toe is struck in the head by a mysterious rainbow-colored rock that falls right out of the clear blue sky. A magical stone that puts Mr. Black's Black Box to shame, Toe's rock possesses the power to grant wishes. Now, as the rock begins to change hands, Black Falls is overrun by miniature spaceships, crocodile armies, boogers the size of boulders, and whatever other oddities the imaginative local kids happen to dream up. Who would have thought that the real trouble would start once the grown-ups in town get their hands on the mysterious rock? With the situation quickly spiraling out of control, it's up to Toe and his friends to save the townspeople from themselves by proving to them that the things you wish for may not actually be the best things for you. Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, and James Spader co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The latest child's-eye adventure from Robert Rodriguez, Shorts doesn't hit the heights of his Spy Kids series. But it provides just enough smart, silly fun for families desperately seeking an easy escape from hazy August humidity.
Be careful what you wish for, Shorts reminds us; you just might get it. Especially if that wishing was along the lines of a smart and funny kids' flick.
Robert Rodriguez makes two kinds of movies - gritty action movies for adults and goofy CGI adventures for kids. Shorts falls in the latter category, capturing the story-telling feel of a young child.
It is a wildly self-indulgent fantasy adventure that should have gone straight to Youtube, where all 'Dad-thinks-he's-cool-with-a-camera' home videos belong.
Yes, it's definitely made for the much younger set, but it also has quite a few zany little off guard touches, resulting in genuine laughs for anyone who can appreciate the humor.
...what poignancy is served injecting heavy messages about parenting... into a movie which glorifies the suburban existence, makes light of bullying, and gratuitously employs property destruction for comic effect?
Shorts is constantly pinballing back and forth, from one thing to the next, in such a hyperactive fashion that one wishes it would just slow down a bit.
A fun trifle -- essentially, a homemade 'Little Rascals' update in which youngsters with a 'wishing rock' wreak accidental havoc (and create upright crocodiles, a giant dung beetle, a 'big bad booger' monster and an intellectual telepathic baby).
All of these adventures call on Rodriguez's fascination with visual effects, which could be tough on his human cast, but he has the wit to keep them in focus. All up, it's good fun.
That potential is not realized in "Shorts" primarily because of the chaotic structure of the story, which lurches back through a series of disjointed flashbacks.
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